Subject: Manga Reviews: Hellsing | Author | Messages | Billy Aguiar
Posts: 84
 | Posted: 8/25/2006 9:33:34 AM | Hellsing, vol. 1
Dark Horse/Digital Manga
$13.95, b/w, 208 pages, Available now!
Created by Kohta Mirano
Rated for 14+
Reviewed by Billy Aguiar
two stars
Hellsing is a manga co-produced by Digital Manga Publishing and Dark Horse Comics, about the Hellsing Agency, whose mission is search and destroy supernatural threats to Great Britain. Their most effective weapon in this fight is Alucard, a vampire under the control of Lady Integra Hellsing, though in the first volume of the series, Alucard makes a policewoman, Seras Victoria, into a vampire also after fatally injuring her. And yes, if you think the name Alucard just looks made up, reverse the order of the letters to get the name of another vampire with an infamous connection to Great Britain. A connection they sometimes allude to at times but never directly confirm or deny.
Hellsing is an action title, with big guns and even bigger threats. And it seems like most of the ink on the page is to represent blood spilled by the characters, irrespective of whether or not they are the protagonists or antagonists. The number of innocent bystander deaths becomes epic even before the death zeppelins unleash their payload of buzz bombs. And no, since this manga is set in the modern day, it is not much of a leap to say that there are some undead Nazis involved here. Alucard and the Hellsing agency he serves only seem to care marginally about the bystanders caught in their battles, and not at all about the innocent dupes that are sent against them by their opponents. The characters have no illusions about being heroes, merely taking that most direct and brutal route in order to achieve their goals and fulfill their purposes. I have not watched the popular anime that was made based on this manga, so I am not sure how much this element is talked about, but there is a strong element of religious conflict between the Roman Catholic Church and Protestant England that may be touchy topic in some stores and parts of the country. I suspect that in the same way Western writers touch upon aspects of Eastern belief in ways that would make one well versed in them wince, this is one of the cases where the opposite is true.
Despite these concerns, the manga does deliver a fast-moving, over-the-top action tale that is always willing to try to top itself yet again. And the fact that the characters have vampiric strength so they can carry truly outrageous weaponry is something that the creator uses to full measure. So as long as you don't mind a hyperviolent vampire tale with blasphemous tones, this is an action tale that will deliver.
This is a weekly manga review here on the CBG site, but don’t forgot to check out my other review site, Prospero’s Manga for more manga reviews.
www.darkhorse.com
Vol 1. ISBN: 1-59307-056-X
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